Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 September 2024:
The Government of Sierra Leone has yesterday signed a $50 million agreement with China National Technical Import & Export Corporation to establish a SMART Sierra Leone Project.
The signing took place on the margins of the FOCAC Summit in Beijing which President Bio is attending, marking a significant step forward in Sierra Leone’s digital transformation efforts.
During the signing of the agreement,President Bio said that the three main objectives of the SMART Sierra Leone Project are to expand internet connectivity to over 400,000 previously unconnected citizens; establish national data centers to manage and protect sovereign data; and enhance security measures around critical state infrastructure in Freetown.
Additionally, the Minister of Communications, Technology and Innovation, Salima Monorma Bah, signed an agreement with Huawei Group for a Digital Village Project, which will be based in Tormabum, in the south of Sierra Leone. (Photo above).
According to the government statement, the aim of the Digital Village Project is to provide farmers and community members with access to vital online information that will improve agricultural yield and expand market opportunities.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, President Bio said: “I am delighted to be here this evening to witness the signing of two important projects in our digital transformation drive. The unveiling of the SMART Sierra Leone and Digital Village Projects today not only marks another milestone in our partnership with the People’s Republic of China but also underscores the priority placed on Tech and Infrastructure Development in our Big Five Agenda,” President Bio stated.
In June 2021 President Bio launched a $34.1 million Sierra Leone Regional Rice Value Chain Project in Tormabum, emphasising that food security is probably the most critical pillar among the human capital development priorities of the country.
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At that launching in 2021, he told the gathering of locals, development partners and members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, the Islamic Development Bank and BADEA in Bum Chiefdom, Bonthe District, that a well-nourished child or adult could stay healthy.
“This project directly benefits 7,000 women and youth farmers, along with 35,000 farming families who are growing rice on 35,000 hectares of farmlands in the project locations.
“We came into governance to low levels of food security, even though we have vast stretches of arable land in this country, consistent rainfall and rivers, and fairly even weather conditions. The price of our staple food, rice, has not been stable and consistent on the world market. There had been no well-thought-out and sustainable investments in the agriculture sector. Food insecurity therefore persisted.
“Instead of taking short-term populist actions and granting massive import subsidies at the detriment of the economy or pronouncing an overnight reduction in the price of a bag of rice for political propaganda purposes, we decided to think very closely about a permanent fix…In order to strengthen the participation of the private sector, Government, through the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, has ring-fenced $50million to support private sector investments in agriculture.
“Traditional subsistence farming of low-yield seeds in small plots will not lead to domestic food sufficiency. The answer is in increased mechanisation and larger acreage yields, more access to input, more advanced farming techniques, and more agriculture financing that expands private sector investments in agriculture,” the President who once described himself as the country’s “farmer-in-chief”, said in June 2021, launching his national food security programme.
Three years on, critics say that the Tormabum food security programme has at best not delivered its intended outcome, failing to make a difference in the food security needs of the country; and at worse, has been bedevilled by corruption and poor management.
The government is now hoping that with the signing yesterday of the $50 million agreement with China National Technical Import & Export Corporation for the SMART Sierra Leone Project, the Chinese global IT company – Huawei Group, will establish a Digital Village in Tormabum, that will provide farmers and their supply chain “with access to vital online information to improve agricultural yields and expand market opportunities.”
But with the current electricity supply challenges facing the country, few are pinning hopes in the viabiity of this project.
Without reliable supply of electricity, Sierra Leone’s development will continue to flounder, and hundreds of millions of dollars investment wasted.
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